“How do you know that?”
“Oh, I was telling her about mine, and asked if she had any, and she said, 'No, only I'd like to go to school, and I mean to some day.”
“So she doesn't call desertion, poverty, and hard work, troubles? She's a brave little girl, and I shall be proud to know her.” And Uncle Alec gave an approving nod, that made Rose wish she had been the one to earn it.
“But what are these troubles of yours, child?” he asked, after a minute of silence.
“Please don't ask me, uncle.”
“Can't you tell them to me as well as to Phebe?”
Something in his tone made Rose feel that it would be better to speak out and be done with it, so she answered, with sudden colour and averted eyes,
“The greatest one was losing dear papa.”
As she said that, Uncle Alec's arm came gently round her, and he drew her to him, saying, in the voice so like papa's,
“That is a trouble which I cannot cure, my child; but I shall try to make you feel it less. What else, dear?”